Understanding motivation in the classroom | Assignment

Teaching for Success | Palestine TAG

Module11assignment
Module assignmenttask
task||Understanding
Understandingmotivation
motivationininthe
theclassroom
classroom

Overview

This assignment is an opportunity to take some of the ideas and learning from the course into your own classroom – and get some feedback on your
efforts. The assignment is very practical and designed to support your learning and teaching. As we all have different teaching situations, there is lots
of flexibility regarding what it focuses on. The only requirements are choosing something that:

● could benefit your learners

● is related to the module Understanding motivation in the classroom

What exactly do I need to do?

Try out something new in your classroom and then reflect on it. That’s it, it’s really simple.

As that is something you will be doing anyway, it shouldn’t take you any extra time (other than completing this assignment template). We understand
how busy you are!

What kind of things could I try out?

You could try a technique, strategy or activity that develops motivation in one of the following ways:

● learning more about your students and what interests them.

● getting feedback from students during or after a lesson or activity.
● making the class more interesting or enjoyable for students.
● providing students with more opportunities to speak and use English themselves
● showing students that you are interested in them and/or believe they can make progress.

Remember, to choose something that could be helpful for your students in particular. You will need to explain why you chose your area of focus.

British Council Teaching for Success | Palestine TAG | Motivation assignment v2

Before the lesson | Deciding what to try in the classroom, and how to do that (20 points)

What are you going to try? (Brief description of the activity, strategy or technique).

I'm going to try the students feedback technique because it is a new concept for me and I liked the idea of getting the students ideas and
feedback on what I do in addition to know what they prefer so they can become more motivated in my class.

Why did you choose this activity, strategy or technique? Why/how do you think it will be useful for your learners?

If my students expressed what they really liked about my lessons and what techniques and activities they like they will feel that they are an
essential part of the learning/teaching process and thus will be very motivated to share in something they help build.

What problems might you face using it with your learners?

At first, new concepts face some resistance – it is the human nature – but I believe this technique will not make a problem for my students to
adapt with, because students love to be heard.
Nevertheless, it might be time consuming in some cases. In this case, I will redo my time management for the lessons in which I will apply this
technique.

How will the activity, strategy or technique be integrated within your lesson? What will the teacher and learners say and do?

I will use smiley faces and other techniques after each activity at first and at the end of the lesson; I will use the open questions strategy.
In addition, when necessary will use the questionnaire-like strategy. I felt optimistic about this once I went through module 1.

British Council Teaching for Success | Palestine TAG | Motivation assignment v2

 Teaching for Success | Palestine TAG

After the lesson | Reflection (20 points)

How did you feel during/after the lesson?

It's been a great experience during the lesson and after explaining the idea to the students they were so motivated to putting it in action. Once I saw
the students' motivation, I felt relaxed and became more motivated than before. After applying it the students were eager to do the next activity so
they can have a say in the lesson. I felt that the lesson went perfectly well without flaws.

Did the technique, strategy or activity affect learner motivation? How much? How do you know?
The strategy greatly affected my students' motivation. They are always eager for the next lesson and ask me to stay more than one session with
them; because it is the first time they have an opinion in what they learn especially in English.

What problems did your learners have? How do you know? How did you overcome the problems?
Before application, I anticipated that such a new thing would be faced by resistance, but everything went smoothly and unlike what I anticipated.
The only obstacle was when I asked the students to prepare the happy and sad faces. Most of the students did but some of them didn't do them so I
made a number of faces and distributed them among the students; so they can participate like the rest

Will you do this again? Why? What could you do the same, or differently next time?

Of course, and I already did; because the first time was great for both the students and me. The second time I expanded it to be applied on all of my
classed and I applied the questionnaires. But I want to try the open questions part.

British Council Teaching for Success | Palestine TAG | Motivation assignment v2

Assessment Criteria | Before the lesson
EXCELLENT (4-5)
Area of focus The participant goes into great detail in
the description of the activity, strategy
or technique and explains thoroughly
how it will benefit their learners.
Reasons for choice of The choice of activity, technique or
strategy strategy is appropriate in the context
and is clearly linked to the learners’
motivation.
Awareness of potential There is strong awareness of potential
problems and solutions problems for the learners/teachers and
appropriate solutions are given.
Description of the It is very clear how the activity,
procedure, learner technique or strategy will be
activity, interaction and implemented
support given
British Council Teaching for Success | Palestine TAG | Motivation assignment v2
SUCCESSFUL (3)
The participant makes a brief
description of the activity, strategy or
technique and states clearly how it
could benefit their learners
The participant has chosen an
appropriate activity, technique or
strategy and given an appropriate
reason for their choice. The link to
motivation may be clear.
There is some awareness of potential
problems for the learners/teachers and
appropriate or partially appropriate
solutions are given to deal with these
It is generally clear as to how it will be
used/implemented
DEVELOPMENT NEEDED (0-2)
The description is incomplete and little
or no reason is given for justifying the
choice.
There is no reason given for the choice
of activity, technique or strategy or the
reason is not related to the learners’
motivation.
There is little or no awareness of
potential problems for the
learners/teachers and no solutions are
given or are inappropriate
It is not clear how it will be
used/implemented

Assessment Criteria | After the lesson
EXCELLENT (4-5)
Description of Feelings The participant is able to clearly
identify their feelings during and after
the lesson and reflect on what these
feeling indicate.
Analysis of Behaviour There is strong evidence of teacher
self-awareness, critical thinking and
understanding of their learners. They
identify strengths and weaknesses, are
honest and realistic.
Evaluation of how it The participant is able to clearly
worked identify what did/didn’t work and gives
clear evidence to support their
evaluation.
Action planning The participant has identified a number
of appropriate alternative approaches.
British Council Teaching for Success | Palestine TAG | Motivation assignment v2
Teaching for Success | Palestine TAG
SUCCESSFUL (3)
The participant is able to identify their
feelings during and after the lesson
although they may not reflect on what
these feeling indicate.
There is some evidence of teacher
self-awareness, critical thinking and
understanding of their learners. They
identify some strengths and
weaknesses but they may not be
appropriate to their context.
The participant is able to identify what
did/didn’t work, although it may not be
clear how they know this.
The participant has suggested
alternative approaches although these
may not be entirely appropriate.
DEVELOPMENT NEEDED (0-2)
The participant is not able to identify
their feelings during and after the
lesson and reflect on what these
feeling indicate.
There is little or no evidence of teacher
self-awareness, critical thinking and
understanding of their learners. They
cannot identify strengths and
weaknesses.
The participant is unable to identify
what did/didn’t work, and gives no
evidence to support their evaluation.
Suggested alternative approaches may
be unclear or inappropriate.